Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 61,715 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,498 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $27,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after acquiring an additional 405,952 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,434,406,000 after acquiring an additional 141,322 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,959,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,624,462,000 after acquiring an additional 138,585 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,647,000 after acquiring an additional 218,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,953,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,730,000 after acquiring an additional 23,155 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $471.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $226.84 billion, a PE ratio of 36.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $458.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Linde Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.